Day 100 

Team A

If I were to tell you what happened to us today this would be a very short report. We ran, we drove and then we had our dinner. That's it!

Strangely enough, it wasn't boring at all. Such a day can leave you with a sweet memory as surely as any of  the most eventful days.

Today we'll spend the night in Charters Towers, and tomorrow we will reach Townsville. Now, for a foreigner, the name Townsville does not signify too much. But if you look on the map you'll see that Townsville is a coastal town, facing the Pacific Ocean.

We've been running through the outback for a couple of weeks but now, finally, we are approaching the sea again!

The relevant part in this is that we are reaching something: we are somehow following a direction, pursuing a partial goal.

Once we reach Townsville we will run along the coast until Brisbane, so we'll forget about reaching the sea, and we'll look forward to arriving at our final destination.

The sensation you can have when you are reaching your goal is pure magic. And the harder it is to gain, the better it will taste at the end. Once you reach the 'end', you are already dreaming of the next goal.

And the same happens when you are nowhere near your destination. We crossed vast expanses of land, seeing the same (beautiful, of course) scenery every day, for many days. In that situation, the very fact of running, of proceeding toward something – whatever it is – is what brings you newness.

That newness gives you a new impression of the sun, of the trees and of the birds. The wonders that surround you, all of a sudden become alive again. When tomorrow's 10 km stretch beckons you, you know it won't be like yesterday. And you know it is going to be a surprise!

– Sandro Zincarini (Italy)

Team B

Wow! Today Queensland surprised me with an abundance of green colour. What a change in comparison to the yellow and dry landscape we have been experiencing for the last few weeks.

We drove to Torrens Creek and started off from there. Angela Muhs from Germany, the great runner, headed out first towards our destination for today – Charters Towers.

We did some stretching under Nataliya’s skilful guidance.

The air was not as dry and more mild than the last ten days. The sun was shining through the trees, bird choirs happily sang their songs for us – these all combined to make our 'just running' 82 km day, joyful and beautiful.

Some beautiful wattle trees...

And some stones at the edge of the road...

The sky seems more blue here...

And mountains far away...

Little rocks, birds singing, shadows on the side of the road, a little breeze while running, drivers smiling at you and waving – back home such small things I normally don’t even notice in the hustle and bustle of life. Here they make my day.

We completed our running at Homestead...

– Anastasia Aleksejeva (Latvia)

Team C

We began the day by presenting a Certificate of Appreciation to The Royal Hotel Resort in Hughenden, to thank them for their generous and wonderful accommodation last night. As the owners weren’t there, the certificate was accepted on their behalf by employees Tanya Webb and Alex Gordon.

As we ran towards Charters Towers, it was clear that we had well and truly left the Outback.

The golden plains we viewed yesterday, covered in shrubs and patches of dry grass, have been replaced by greenery, tropical trees and gentle inclines. As we ventured nearer the outskirts of the town, the surroundings continued to change, with the trees replaced by grassland and paddock.

We love to explore each new town we visit, seeking out the best ice-cream parlours, pizza shops, internet providers and whatever else we need. In Charters Towers, we were lucky enough to find Leaning Towers Pizzas (a pizza parlour and a place for natural New Zealand ice-cream), where Colin, the proprietor, kindly donated some pizzas to keep the teams going.

– Noivedya Juddery (Australia)

Profile...

Many people make up a team, with various responsibilities all necessary to the smooth operation and forward progress of the whole group. Edi Serban from Romania is the backbone of our team – solid strength in every respect. Reliable with every task he performs and exceptional at organising the many different aspects which are rolled into one World Harmony Run.

Edi is an excellent runner, always prepared to go for a long run – it often seems that the longer he runs, the happier he is at the end of the day.

He is the keeper of the keys, holding on to a copy of all the vehicle keys. We all feel they are in safe and solid hands. That same assurance carries over to his driving and judgement in general. Though he sometimes pretends to play the role of 'Grumpy' from 'Snow White and The Seven Dwarves', Edi's keen photographic skills, willingness and friendliness make him a wonderful and treasured fellow World Harmony Runner.

Why do we like Edi? 

• We like him early in the morning, when he complains about the breakfast. 
He says: What is this? Who wants it! – which actually means: "Guys, we will have to run 20 km each under a baking sun, we need to be healthy and joyful, and I humbly suggest to you that this variety of breakfast is not the most suited to promote a graceful frame of mind."
• We like him at noon, when he explores his lunch bag.
Edi peers seriously, deep into the plastic bag containing lunch. with the same look of a child in front a serve of broccoli, and he utters: "OK, this is a snack. Now, where is my lunch bag?"
We all receive the hidden message: "Oh poor me! How am I going to survive this long day if I am not provided with a midday meal that meets with the requests of a runner's lifestyle?"
• We like him in the evening, when he casts his gaze upon the pots containing the dinner, and not being impressed with that view asks: "So, where is food?"
  And that actually means: "So, where is food?"
• We like him because he never hesitates to run more miles if needed.
• We like him when he is driving, because he keeps following the instructions of the GPS computer even when the GPS is leading us to Antarctica, and his navigator mate seated beside him is following the instructions from the printed map. We really like that.
• We like him when he fishes the olives out of the salad. And he likes us when we do so too.
• We like him because if something has to be done, no matter what, we can rely on Edi.
• We like him because he has a bag with three compartments. He devotes the third one, which is spacious, to a queenly jar of Nutella.
• We like Edi because if you say something silly, most likely he will tell you straight away that you said something silly. And you'll start laughing.
• We like Edi because he is kind and affectionate, but sometimes he is shy. This actually makes him seem a little tender. And we like him more.
• And we like Edi even if he is from China!
Let me tell you more about this last joke. When we visit schools we usually play a country-guessing game with the children: each international runner gives them a clue about their country of origin and the kids have to guess it.
And I can assure you that after almost four months spent travelling around Australia and countless schools visited, there was not a single time when the kids didn't call out "China!" as the first guess for him! Edi started to grow a little uncomfortable with this after about the 100th time.

This is why we like Edi...

 

In Charters Towers we had a chance to look around an old gold mine that has been capped for fifty years and is now a museum – a time capsule – showing us how things were done in the very early days when the landscape around the town was dotted with these mines.

Then off to Towers Hill, overlooking the town and surrounds. We were told it was a nice place to see the sunset and it was: as well as the home of some beautiful rock wallabies lounging around in their living rooms.

– Prabhakar Street (Canada)

If you would like to place a link or a write a story about the World Harmony Run on your website, click here to Link to Us. We'll be happy to place a reciprocal link and list you on our Friends Online page.

---

Team Members:
Amalendu Edelsten (Australia), Anastasia Aleksejeva (Latvia), Nigel Webber (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Edi Serban (Romania), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Bernice Matthews (Australia), Nick File (New Zealand), Noivedya Juddery (Australia), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Elke Lindner (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Angela Muhs (Germany), Rathin Boulton (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia)

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!

< Australia 3 August

Australia 5 August >